New Tool to Spot Google Algorithm Updates in Real Time

We are constantly striving to improve and renew our tools. In a business environment that transforms exponentially, reinventing ourselves is not just an aspiration, it’s our job.

We are very proud to share with you cognitiveSEO’s newest tool named Signals. What is this tool doing? Keeping your online business safe. How? By monitoring the SERPs so you can spot and be notified of all important Google updates & fluctuations. And yes, it’s real time.

cognitiveSEO Signals is the tool you need to have in mind when it comes to Google Algorithm Changes. We know, Google Updates can be a scary thing, but we’ve come to rescue this time.

Being able to not only monitor, but also understand why fluctuations happen will give you a competitive edge, both in the short and in the long run.

You will be able to more easily recover from an unsuspecting penalty (even if you don’t know all the specifics) and, over time, you will gain a better understanding of the ways and directions search engines are moving into.

This way, you could even tailor your strategy in such a way that you can even avoid rank drops following some algorithm changes.

Not to mention that you’ll receive all the Google Updates Alerts directly in your inbox.

Google Algorithm Updates – A Constant Challenge

Some of the major algorithm updates are publicized and attract open discussion and scrutiny. But most are adopted inconspicuously, leaving the online community scratching their heads for causal relationships when it comes to their fluctuations in the rankings.

Ourselves are constant Google-Fluctuation-Hunters and not once we’ve written articles and case studies about the latest algorithm updates. We know, just as much as anyone who has a business online, that a Google update can damage you (in some cases) irremediably. You can lose your business in just a few seconds. Of course, there are also happy cases when a Google update can boost you up in rankings, yet, the main concern remains tokeep your online business safe. You know the saying, what goes around comes around. Today you’re up; tomorrow brings new challenges.

cognitiveSEO Signals or How to Keep Your Business Safe

Being aware of everybody’s main concern: keeping your online business safe, we’ve created a tool to spot all Google’s updates in real time. We are proud to introduce you cognitiveSEO Signals.

We monitor the SERP so you can spot all the important updates & fluctuations.

cognitiveSEO Signals – Under the Hood

To make sure that the newest cognitiveSEO family member is the right tool for you in terms of spotting Google Updates, check out Signal’s résumé:

Impressive Data Set

We monitor more than 100 000 keywords on a daily basis. Whenever there is a spike that strays from the baseline, we can tell you whether it is due to natural fluctuations or a change in Google’s approach.

Hourly Updated Data

You can easily track and visualize changes as they happen with an updated hourly chart. The data is easy to understand as the fluctuations are marked as normal, medium and high. Also, a Google algorithm change score will help you to keep track with all the changes.

Granular Data for an Accurate Interpretation

You can fine-tune your analysis by adjusting the period of time and level of variation displayed in the fluctuation chart. It’s important that you have this kind of flexibility because just as not all trends are easy to spot in an ever shifting landscape, not all changes are significant. We allow you to visualize the data in a way that allows you to better understand Google and its updates: you can see fluctuations for the top 10, 20 or 50 positions only; you can also choose to see the data only for ranking changes with at least 3, 5 or 10 positions. You can see exactly the importance of the granular data in this case study exposed below.

Volatility Alerts Directly in Your Inbox

All you have to do is subscribe with your e-mail address, and we’ll keep you up to date on any rank fluctuations. This way you can find out when Google updates its algorithms and be ready to deal with the causes of any rank drop you might encounter.

Google Updates for 12 Countries, on Desktop, Mobile, and Local Level

There is no need to repeat that Google’s updates are not the same worldwide. While in Canada there can be massive fluctuations, in France could be no trace of major updates within universal search. This is why we offer you the possibility to spot the updates for the country you are most interested in. For the moment we offer you real time updates for: US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, France, India, Italy, Netherlands, Romania and Turkey.

Also, for some countries, you have the possibility to see the volatility for desktop, mobile or local rankings.

The best part about our newest tool? This is just the beginning! There are more features coming up in the future and we can hardly wait to share them with you in the near future.

How to Spot Google Updates – October 2017 Update Case Study

cognitiveSEO Signals make it easy to spot any important Google updates. Being so granular, one of the greatest merits of the tool is that it allows you to see not only when there were fluctuations but who exactly was affected by the updates and to what extent.

A recent Google Search Algorithm & Ranking Update was spot on October 7th – 9th by Barry Schwartz. Having this update in mind we’ve decided to see how we can use cognitiveSEO Signals to spot it. The path of discovering this update was a very interesting one.

Bare with me here and allow me to show you what exactly am I talking about. Let’s take a look at the screenshot below. We can see that starting with 7th of October, there are some medium fluctuations, yet nothing very impressive. We see this algorithm change for the top 50 positions, taking into consideration sites that had ranking fluctuations with at least five positions.

You know that saying, there are no facts, only interpretations. And the only thing we sometimes have control over is perspective. So I invite you to take another look at the same chart, for the same period of time but for a different set of data.

This time, if we look only at the fluctuations occurred within Google’s top 10 positions and for even higher ranking changes (all the websites that experienced changes in rankings with at least 10 positions), in front of our eyes will stretch a whole new situation. It seems that the fluctuations at the beginning of October where actually very high. As we are looking at changes in rankings with at least 10 positions (be it increases or decreases), we can easily realize that there has been a lot of interchanging between Google’s first 2 pages.

Most likely some of the pages that had a warm place on Google’s first page have fallen on the second page and some “lucky” (but most likely hard-working) websites from the second page are now enjoying the benefits of being within Google and users’ favorites.

It’s a dramatic fluctuation if we think the battlefield for any webmaster and SEO pro is unfolding on Google’s first page.

Even more, if we take a look at the fluctuations from the beginning of the year (from January 2017 until mid October 2017) we can see that this is the biggest update from this year. We all know that Google is constantly changing and there has been some other fluctuations during the year. But none so significant as this one.

Therefore, if you experience some sudden drops for your top ranking keywords and you don’t know why, the chart below may hold the answer.

The Best Is Yet to Come

The old adage that “Information is power” is no longer entirely true. A more updated version might be:

The ability to scan through relentless swathes of information and distinguish signal from noise is power.

Not quite as catchy, but a lot more accurate.

We’ve promised you in the title that the best is yet to come and we are going to stick with that. What does this mean exactly?

It means that we are not stopping here.

Without reveling how cognitiveSEO Signals will look in a couple of months from now, let me just tell you that you will love it.

And this is because there will be new features available and you will be able to correlate directly the relation between your site and the Google Algorithm Updates.

Google rolled up so many updates until now. Mobile friendly, intrusive interstitials, Google payday loan, Google Penguin and Panda updates, Google Hummingbird or the Brandy update. Some of them are Google confirmed, some of them are unnamed updates. Regardless of the situation is import to keep an eye an all of them. But, how can you do that when they are so many?

The best things come to those who wait. I am sure that you will have patience and meanwhile you will take full advantage of cognitiveSEO Signals’present capabilities.

Being on Google’s golden list is what we all want, and this tool gives a helping hand in our pursuit to #1 Google page.

Why is it so difficult to make it to the top (and stay there)? There’s obviously no universal answer or formula, but there is one common element:

The constant drive from the information gatekeepers (i.e., Google & co.) to improve and refine the accuracy and relevance of their algorithms.

cognitiveSEO Signals is for the moment free to use. Therefore, you have no excuse not to be updated with the major Google Algorithm Changes.

Cornelia is a proud Digital Marketer @ cognitiveSEO. When she is not documenting for the next amazing case study, she is probably somewhere trying out a new extreme sport such as Hang Gliding. Also, she's an avid traveler, extreme sports enthusiast, and aspiring drum singer.